Anderson Cooper Exposes Truth Behind Donald Trump's 'Genocide' Claims About White Farmers in South Africa

Outgoing 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper quashed President Donald Trump’s widely debunked claims of a systematic "genocide" against white farmers in South Africa in his last investigation for the venerable news magazine.

The Sunday, February 22, segment examined President Trump's executive order to expedite the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees to the U.S. based on these disputed claims.

Cooper said he visited the farm of a man named Darrel Brown “because of what President Trump said last May about the murders of South African farmers.”

The report addressed a video previously cited as proof of mass burials. Cooper interviewed the man who erected the crosses, who clarified they were a temporary tribute to murder victims, not a burial site.

The CNN reporter played a clip of Trump saying, “It’s a genocide that’s taking place that you people don’t want to write about. But it’s a terrible thing that’s taking place. And farmers are being killed. They happen to be white.”

When South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the White House just over a week later, Trump showed him what he dubbed video “proof” of violence targeting white farmers.

“These are burial sites right here,” Trump said of crosses lining a roadway. “Burial sites. Over 1,000 — of white farmers."

Sources and data in the report indicated that farm attacks are primarily driven by criminality and opportunism rather than racial targeting, noting that Black farmers and workers are also frequent victims of violence.

“We found the spot where those white crosses were once planted,” Cooper said. “It’s a lonely pothole road, not far from Brown’s ranch.”

“It definitely wasn’t a burial site,” Brown told Cooper. “I mean those crosses were there for less than 48 hours. It was purely an avenue of crosses we planted there in honor of commercial farmers in South Africa that had lost their lives.”

Cooper then asked another citizen, Renee Nell, “When you heard President Trump talk about a genocide what did you think?”

“Well, I just thought he was using the wrong word,” she said.

“In your opinion it’s not a genocide here?” Cooper asked.

“Not what I know of genocide. Not what I’ve heard a genocide is. I see our attack as an opportunistic attack,” she said.

Cooper continued to debunk Trump’s claims, saying, "South Africa is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The murder rate is seven times that of the United States. And the majority of victims and perpetrators are Black. According to police, more than 25,000 people were murdered here in 2024. It’s estimated 37 of them were killed on farms.”

“It’s actually not about white genocide. It’s about criminality in south Africa,” an Afrikaner who leads the country’s largest agricultural organization told Cooper.

"That’s what’s happening on farms, and it’s what’s happening in streets in Johannesburg and other major cities — it’s crime. The fact that it happened on a farm, doesn’t make me special as a farmer. Any murder is horrendous,” he said.

The airing of the report coincided with significant shifts in Cooper's career and leadership at CBS, which critics suggest has been on a rightward tilt.

Just days before the segment aired, the Gloria Vanderbilt heir and father of two children announced he would not renew his contract with 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years, reportedly to spend more time with his family.

Reports suggested the segment had been delayed by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss — dubbed "MAGA curious" by critics — and subjected to an "abnormal" editing process, contributing to internal tensions at the network.